Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Ask a Nutritionist, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition.

I am Amy Kramm, a registered dietitian with nutritional weight and wellness.

And today we're talking about fiber.

Specifically, how fiber helps lower cholesterol, the different types of fiber, and practical ways to increase fiber in your diet,

including when supplements might make sense.

If you've ever been told to eat more fiber because of cholesterol, heart health, digestion,

or blood sugar, and we're quite sure what that actually means, this episode is for you.

So let's start with the big picture, why cholesterol matters.

Cholesterol itself isn't the enemy.

Your body actually needs cholesterol to make hormones,

vitamin D, and parts of your cell membranes. The issue comes when we have too much aldeol cholesterol,

often referred to as bad cholesterol, circulating in the blood, increasing the risk of plaque

build up in the arteries, which can raise the risk for heart disease and stroke.

Now here's the good news.

Dietary fiber is one of the most effective, evidence-based ways to lower LDL cholesterol naturally.

So how does fiber actually do this?

The key flare here is soluble fiber. When soluble fiber mixes with water

in your digestive tract, it forms a gel-like substance. This gel binds to cholesterol and helps

carry it out of the body through bowel movements. If cholesterol isn't eliminated through bowel

movement, it's recycled back up to the liver because the liver needs cholesterol to do its job.

So when extra cholesterol is eliminated regularly through healthy bowel movements, your liver has to pull cholesterol out of the bloodstream to get more, leading to lower LDL cholesterol levels in the blood.

This is why fiber works best when it's eaten every day.

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